1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and installation for handling poultry.
Presently, living poultry, such as chicken, turkey, geese, duck and quail, are delivered at a slaughterhouse in containers or cages.
The living animals are unloaded on a conveyor band or provided in containers or cages. Manually the poultry is taken by the poultry legs and in an downwardly suspended position with force hooked in shackles by the ankles of the animal. In order to keep the animals as quiet as possible the handling of the poultry occurs in a relatively dark environment.
The hooking of the animals with their ankles in the shackles is carried out with force in order to have the animals tightly hooked as to avoid release from the shackles and provide good electro conductivity when the animal is electrically stunned in a water bath.
Hooking of the animals with their legs in the shackles or other hooking means, is generating much stress and pain. Often the legs may be injured, dislocated or broken. In addition, it is possible that one of the legs is not correctly hooked so that the animal is suspended by one leg.
Due to this manner of poultry handling, many animals will have their wings fluttering resulting in undesired movement, excitement and also a possible release or damage of the animal or neighboring animal with one or two legs from the shackles by which they are transported to the slaughtering unit.
Presently it has become hardly acceptable to handle living poultry in the manner described above. Not only because of the impact on the animals, but also in view of the negative influence on the quality of the poultry product obtained. Because due to the stress and muscle contraction bones may be broken and poultry tissue infiltrated by blood.
2. Description of Related Art
US2008/0242208 discloses a method and device for processing a slaughtered animal. The slaughtered or stunned animal is suspended with its neck from a hook and in this position the neck blood vessels are cut. For processing the stunned or slaughtered animal to a higher level than a cut use can be made of a breast and leg support or leg gripper unit. This method and device cannot be used for handling living poultry.